Fatty meat is only for the rich, extremely expensive

In the market, fatty meat is often cheaper than pork belly, lean loin, shoulder or rump...

Therefore, in the past, they were considered a dish for the poor. Accordingly, families often bought sheets of lard and fat to fry to get the lard. This lard was used to fry and stir-fry various dishes. Even just a spoonful of lard with a little fish sauce and salt mixed with hot rice was enough to have an attractive dish.

Later, life gradually improved, and with the popularity of cooking oil, jars of lard gradually disappeared from the kitchen.

However, after a long period of being "out of favor", recently black pork fat has suddenly become a hot commodity, sought after by housewives despite its extremely expensive price.

On online markets, many people sell black pork fat for 160,000-220,000 VND/kg. At this price, black pork fat is more expensive than the best parts of the pig, such as pork belly, lean meat, rosy cheeks...

“1kg of black pork fat fried yields about 0.7-0.8kg of lard. Compared to the price of cooking oil, lard is many times more expensive,” said Ms. Bui Thi Loan, a wholesaler of Northwest specialties in Truong Chinh (Dong Da, Hanoi). According to her, this is also the reason why many people consider black pork fat to be only for the rich.

In return, when stir-frying dishes, using lard will give a more delicious and attractive flavor than cooking oil. Therefore, every time a black pig is slaughtered and sold, the lard is always a popular item even though the price is up to 220,000 VND/kg, Ms. Loan shared.

Currently, Ms. Loan’s shop slaughters and sells two black pigs each week. The amount of fat filtered for sale is only a few kilos per pig. Meanwhile, most customers order 2-3 kilos at a time, and her regular customer base is nearly 100 people.

Ms. Dao Hoa - a wholesaler of specialties in Dien Bien admitted that in the past, there was a lot of pork fat and the price was very cheap. But now, there is always a shortage of black pork fat for sale.

Every day, Dao Hoa's facility only collects about 30-50kg of black pork fat. The fat is divided into small portions and vacuum-packed in 1kg/bag. This amount of fat will be sent to wholesale customers in Hanoi on the same day.

There are days when wholesale customers ask for large quantities of lard. However, she does not have enough to supply because it depends on the number of black pigs slaughtered each day.

"When I slaughter a black pig, I have to make sure I sell all the remaining meat. I can't just slaughter it and sell the fat," she said. Accordingly, black pig fat is currently not only expensive but also difficult to buy.

On the group of housewives who are passionate about cooking, many people share their preference for using lard to stir-fry some dishes. In particular, black lard is always the top choice, because this breed of pig produces more delicious meat than white pigs. Not to mention, after frying to get the lard, the delicious and crispy lard can also be used to make dishes such as braised lard with fish sauce, braised fish sauce, stir-fried with pickles...